Collection dticarchive; additional_collections

The authors are part of a group which is developing a computerized information system for designing large physical systems. The information system is expected to be useful in the design of buildings, ships, mechanical components and other entities that normally require drawings, specifications and a large number of documents for their description and that must respond to a range of diverse analyses. Its purpose is to allow a physical system to be represented within a computer by a single integrated database in sufficient detail for design and construction. It incorporates compact data structures for representing both three-dimensional and other kinds of information. The operations have been organized as a high level computer language. The objective of this language is to allow the user to easily perform the operations required to design within the computer database. In this sense, it is a LANGUAGE FOR DESIGNING. The authors have developed and are implementing such a language, named GLIDE (Graphical Language for Interactive DEsign). This paper describes the semantics and associated syntax of this language.